Ranunculus adoneus

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Ranunculus adoneus
Ranunculus adoneus 20437986.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Ranunculus
Species:
R. adoneus
Binomial name
Ranunculus adoneus

Ranunculus adoneus, the alpine buttercup [2] or snow buttercup, is a species of flowering plant. It is an alpine buttercup from the family Ranunculaceae. This species is mainly found in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming but can also be found in Idaho, northern Utah and eastern Nevada. Its typical habitat is short grass meadows near the edge of melting snow.

Contents

Discovery

Ranunculus adoneus was first formally described in 1863 by Asa Gray in a list of species collected by several colleagues during the summer and autumn of 1862 on and near the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. [3] [4]

Habitat and ecology

Ranunculus adoneus is a native species that is found only in the Rocky Mountains around the limit of snow where it is quite common. [5] It is a long-lived perennial that is found at elevated meadows in alpine environments. The plants emerge at the edge of the melting snow and flower within a few days. The flowering time of R. adoneus is controlled by the time of snowmelt, so that on a steep gradient flowers appear first on a lower altitude and subsequently, with melting of the snow, several tens of meters higher. They are found at an altitude of 2500 – 4000 meters. Flowering lasts longer at lower altitudes. [6] [7] [8] The flowers persist for approximately 10 days. Secondary flowers may open a week or two after the primary flowers. [8]

Morphology

The leaves of R. adoneus are about 4 cm in diameter and deeply dissected into linear lobes, with narrow leaf segments that grow at the base and along the stem and are often just one pair. The stem, which is about 9–25 cm long, is hairless and quite thick and ascends erect from the roots (caudices). It bears 1 to 3 flowers that are yellow with 5 to 10 wedge-shaped petals. [9] The flowers are larger than the leaves, about 4 cm and are situated low in the young plant but become higher through stem elongation in the summer. The flowers are protogynous: the pistils mature before the maturation of the anthers to prevent self-fertility.

The flower has 5 greenish-yellow sepals that have white hairs on the lower surface. Petals are overlapping and curved-up towards the tip so the flower is cup-shaped.

Receptacles bear 50–150 stigmas, which mature over several days. Photosynthetic achenes, the fruit that contains a seed, develop from the fertilized ovules. Seeds disperse mainly by gravity 3 to 5 weeks after fertilization. [8]

Heliotropism

The flowers present heliotropism, a property that is often present in alpine and arctic plants. It allows the flowers to track the sun, warm up and attract insects [10] In fact, when the flowers are not within 45° in line with the sun, and less insects visit the flower, the seed yield is much less. [11]

Related Research Articles

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Ranunculaceae is a family of over 2,000 known species of flowering plants in 43 genera, distributed worldwide.

<i>Ranunculus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus is a large genus of about 1700 to more than 1800 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots.

<i>Ranunculus repens</i> Species of plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus repens, the creeping buttercup, is a flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to Europe, Asia and northwestern Africa. It is also called creeping crowfoot and sitfast.

<i>Caltha</i> Genus of flowering plants

Caltha is a genus of rhizomatous perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, to which ten species have been assigned. They occur in moist environments in temperate and cold regions of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Their leaves are generally heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, or are characteristically diplophyllous. Flowers are star shaped and mostly yellow to white. True petals and nectaries are missing but the five or more sepals are distinctly colored. As usual in the buttercup family there is a circle of stamens around free carpels.

<i>Ranunculus glacialis</i> Species of buttercup

Ranunculus glacialis, the glacier buttercup or glacier crowfoot, is a plant of the family Ranunculaceae. It is a 5-10(-20) cm high perennial herb. Often with a single relatively large flower, with 5 petals first white later pink or reddish. The underside of the 5 sepals are densely brown-hairy. The leaves are fleshy, shiny, and deeply loped, forming 3 leaflets. Ranunculus glacialis reported to have a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 16.

<i>Ranunculus bulbosus</i> Species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae

Ranunculus bulbosus, commonly known as bulbous buttercup or St. Anthony's turnip, is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It has bright yellow flowers, and deeply divided, three-lobed long-petioled basal leaves.

<i>Ranunculus lyallii</i> Species of buttercup

Ranunculus lyallii, is a species of Ranunculus (buttercup), endemic to New Zealand, where it occurs in the South Island and on Stewart Island at altitudes of 700–1,500 m. R. lyallii is the largest species in the genus Ranunculus, growing over a meter in height.

<i>Ranunculus glaberrimus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus glaberrimus, the sagebrush buttercup, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is native to interior western North America, in western Canada, the western United States, and the northwestern Great Plains.

<i>Ranunculus nivalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus nivalis, the snow buttercup, is a species of plant in the family Ranunculaceae. It is a perennial herb that grows up to 9 in (23 cm). It grows in wet alpine meadows, cliffs and streamsides. It displays prevalent heliotropism, thus gaining an advantage in its harsh, cold environment through capturing more solar energy by following the sun.

<i>Pulsatilla nuttalliana</i> Species of flowering plant

Pulsatilla nuttalliana, known as American pasqueflower, prairie pasqueflower, prairie crocus, or simply pasqueflower, is a flowering plant native to much of North America, from the western side of Lake Michigan, to northern Canada in the Northwest Territories, south to New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Pasqueflower is the provincial flower of Manitoba and the state flower of South Dakota.

<i>Artemisia norvegica</i> Species of flowering plant

Artemisia norvegica is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names alpine sagewort, boreal sagewort, mountain sagewort, Norwegian mugwort, arctic wormwood, and spruce wormwood. It is found in cold locations in Eurasia and high altitudes and high latitudes in North America.

<i>Ranunculus pedatifidus</i> Species of buttercup

Ranunculus pedatifidus is a species of buttercup known by the common names surefoot buttercup, northern buttercup, and birdfoot buttercup. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring throughout the northern latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two varieties, var. pedatifidus occurring mostly in Asia and var. affinis mostly native to North America.

Ranunculus allenii, commonly known as Allen's buttercup, is a flowering plant in the crowfoot or buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Generally found in wetlands in northern latitudes, it bears yellow flowers in summer, which are pollinated by insects.

<i>Ranunculus abortivus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus abortivus is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. Its common names include littleleaf buttercup, small-flower crowfoot, small-flowered buttercup, and kidneyleaf buttercup. It is widespread across much of North America, found in all ten Canadian provinces as well as Yukon and the Northwest Territories, and most of the United States, except Hawaii, Oregon, California, and parts of the Southwest.

<i>Ranunculus acraeus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus acraeus is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, found in New Zealand. This rare and native species strictly grows on an alpine habitat, hence the name acraeus, meaning “on high”. The plant grows about 50 cm (20 in) in width, and is covered in beautiful, bright yellow flowers. It may be mistaken for R. piliferus but research has shown R. acraeus to be its own distinctive species.

Callianthemoides is a genus of plants in the family Ranunculaceae, with a single species, Callianthemoides semiverticillata. Native to screes in northern Patagonia, it has divided greyish or reddish green leaves and large white or pink flowers.

<i>Ranunculus hispidus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus hispidus is a species of perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is commonly known as bristly buttercup or hispid buttercup. It is a small plant native to central and eastern North America that grows to a height up to 30 cm (1 ft) and has 5-petaled yellow flowers.

<i>Ranunculus viridis</i> Species of buttercup

Ranunculus viridis, the Mount Allen buttercup, is a critically endangered species of alpine Ranunculus (buttercup), endemic to Rakiura/Stewart Island, New Zealand, where it occurs at altitudes of 700 metres (2,300 ft) on Mount Allen in the Tin Range.

<i>Ranunculus arcticus</i> Species of flowering plant

Ranunculus arcticus, the birdfoot buttercup, is a species of buttercup in the family Ranunculaceae. It has a circumpolar distribution in Northern Europe, Northern Asia and North America.

<i>Ranunculus pimpinellifolius</i> Species of buttercup

Ranunculus pimpinellifolius, commonly known as bog buttercup, is a flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae and grows in eastern Australia. It is a low growing perennial with divided green leaves and yellow flowers.

References

  1. "Ranunculus adoneus". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  2. USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Ranunculus adoneus". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 2022-07-28.
  3. Gray, Asa; Hooker, Joseph D. (1881). The Vegetation of the Rocky Mountain Region and a comparison with that of other parts of the world. Authors edition. p. 4. ISBN   978-3-337-38172-1. OCLC   1189712821.
  4. Gray, Asa (1863). "Enumeration of the Species of Plants Collected by Dr. C. C. Parry, and Messrs. Elihu Hall and J. P. Harbour, during the Summer and Autumn of 1862, on and near the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado Territory, lat. 39°-41°". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 15: 56 via Biodiversity Heritage Library.
  5. Southwest, The American. "Alpine Buttercup, Ranunculus Adoneus". www.americansouthwest.net. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  6. Stanton, M. L.; Galen, C.; Shore, J. (1997-02-01). "Population Structure Along a Steep Environmental Gradient: Consequences of Flowering Time and Habitat Variation in the Snow Buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus". Evolution. 51 (1): 79–94. doi:10.2307/2410962. ISSN   0014-3820. JSTOR   2410962. PMID   28568788 via JSTOR.
  7. Denver, Botanic Gardens (2018). Wildflowers of the Rocky Mountain region. Timber Press. p. 401. ISBN   978-1-60469-644-8. OCLC   1030444975.
  8. 1 2 3 Baack, Eric J. (2005-11-01). "Ecological factors influencing tetraploid establishment in snow buttercups ( Ranunculus adoneus , Ranunculaceae): minority cytotype exclusion and barriers to triploid formation". American Journal of Botany. 92 (11): 1827–1835. doi:10.3732/ajb.92.11.1827. ISSN   0002-9122. PMID   21646100.
  9. "Ranunculus adoneus - FNA". beta.floranorthamerica.org. Retrieved 2022-07-25.
  10. Sherry, R. A.; Galen, C. (2002-03-01). "The mechanism of floral heliotropism in the snow buttercup, Ranunculus adoneus". Plant, Cell and Environment. 21 (10): 983–993. doi:10.1046/j.1365-3040.1998.00336.x. ISSN   0140-7791.
  11. Stanton, Maureen L.; Galen, Candace (1989-03-01). "Consequences of flower heliotropism for reproduction in an alpine buttercup (Ranunculus adoneus)". Oecologia. 78 (4): 477–485. Bibcode:1989Oecol..78..477S. doi:10.1007/BF00378737. ISSN   1432-1939. PMID   28312176. S2CID   2055154.

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